CESC Acquires Dhariwal Infrastructure For Rs 200 Cr

BY Sarimul Islam Choudhury

The RPG Group firm has acquired 50% stake in Dhariwal, which is setting up a 600MW thermal power generating station.

Kolkata based power producer and distributor CESC Ltd has acquired over 50% stake in Dhariwal Infrastructure Pvt Ltd (DIPL) for Rs 200 crore. Sanjiv Goenka, Vice-chairman CESC Ltd informed that the company plans to acquire 100% stake of DIPL in the next five months.

"Now we have just over 50% holding in the company but going forward it is our intent to acquire 100% stake in the next five months,” said Goenka in a press conference.

The shares of CESC reacted positively to the acquisition, closing at Rs 380, up by 6.7%. The stock touched a high of Rs 389.

DIPL is currently engaged in setting up a 600 MW thermal power generating station at Chandrapur in Maharashtra. Post this acquisition, DIPL has become a subsidiary of CESC Ltd, which is a flagship company of RPG Enterprises.

CESC operates across entire value chain from mining coal, generating power, transmission and distribution of power in Kolkata and Howrah area in West Bengal. It has four generating stations in Kolkata with a capacity of about 1000 MW.

CESC is also in the process of setting up a number of power stations in the country and has got 450 acres of land from local authorities of Kolkata recently. It has posted a net profit of Rs 410 crore for the year ended March 31, 2009 as compared to Rs 355 crore from its corresponding figure last year.